


The Question™

by quantumducky



Category: Asagao Academy: Normal Boots Club
Genre: Fluff and Humor, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Multi, Post-Canon, local idiots get kicked out of restaurant while trying to propose
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-14
Updated: 2019-08-14
Packaged: 2020-08-23 15:45:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20245309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quantumducky/pseuds/quantumducky
Summary: Nick and Josh have decided to ask Paul to marry them. It's a little bit of a mess, but everything works out in the end.





	The Question™

**Author's Note:**

> when was the last time i wrote them? like, two years ago? here's hoping i still remembered how lmao

It wasn’t like Paul was surprised when he figured out what his boyfriends were planning. They’d been talking about the possibility of getting married since graduating a few years ago, and living together almost as long. They couldn’t be  _ legally _ married, of course, but there was nothing stopping them from having rings and a ceremony and all that sappy, romantic shit, and it had become a favorite topic of discussion when they felt like talking on and on about whatever came into their heads. At this point, they had a list a mile long of celebrities to jokingly invite, but like, it didn’t  _ have _ to be a joke, if any of them actually wanted to come, you know? To be honest, none of their quote-unquote “planning” would ever be feasible in the real world- their families may have been pretty wealthy, but still, they weren’t giving them  _ that _ much money to have a fireworks display go off in the background as they gave their wedding vows- but that was never really the point.

The  _ point _ was that they’d talked about it, and as they got older it had become less and less of a far-away  _ someday _ idea, and more and more something they all clearly wanted. So, no, Paul wasn’t surprised at all when he started to suspect Josh and Nick were getting ready to propose to him… which had technically happened before, actually, only he was pretty sure that this time they were going to be serious about it and not use a Ring Pop. And that meant he was probably doomed, because if he were going to be  _ completely _ honest, the Ring Pop joke-proposal had still made him a little bit emotional just thinking about the idea of it happening for real, so yeah, he was very likely going to cry. It made him slightly glad that they were so bad at being subtle about it- at least he could be prepared this way.

And they really were so,  _ so _ incredibly bad at trying to keep him from noticing. It had taken every bit of self-control Paul had to keep pretending he was asleep the day they snuck up on him while he was taking a nap in order to measure his ring size. Seriously, they’d tiptoed up to him with a tape measure, playing soothing piano music from one of their phones the whole time with the idea that it would keep him from waking up. He’d only let them believe it worked because he didn’t want to see what they would try next if that didn’t work; he had already spent about two weeks evading their attempt to “casually” get the information out of him. As soon as they were out of the room, though, he had to shove his face against a pillow to muffle his laughter. He was in love with a couple of complete  _ idiots. _

So, with all this in mind, he had a pretty good idea of what was coming when said idiots he was in love with got unusually… intense… about making sure a certain date night was  _ absolutely perfect. _ First there was the long debate over which day would have the best weather, and then they had to decide what to actually  _ do, _ which was even more of an ordeal. Paul himself ended up stepping in to help settle the issue in the interest of not letting the other two stress themselves out over it too much. They agreed immediately to do whatever he wanted, which, really, would have been enough on its own to tip him off that something was up.

In the end, they took a nice, romantic walk which ended at a rather fancy Italian restaurant, where they had dinner reservations. Nick and Josh couldn’t seem to stop looking at each other behind Paul’s back and smiling nervously, and eventually he couldn’t realistically keep pretending not to notice.

“What’s gotten into you two today?” He laughed, looking between them. “Did something happen I don’t know about?”

They both looked away, blushing a little as they tried to laugh it off. Nick’s best attempt at acting casual went something like “Oh, uh, nothing- well, nothing important, just, you know…”

“Dunno what his problem is, but I’ve just been thinking about how much I love you guys,” Josh cooed teasingly. He draped his lanky self over the both of them in something that wasn’t so much a hug as an attempt to make them carry his weight, and Paul allowed himself to be distracted from their weird behavior in favor of trying to shove him off without making him fall right into the street. Wouldn’t want to miss their reservation because one of them got hit by a car.

Because they were grown men who were capable of acting serious and knew how to manage their time, they only ended up getting to the restaurant a  _ little _ later than they were supposed to. After that point, Paul noticed that his boyfriends seemed to be on their best fancy behavior. For them, this still involved quietly making fun of the fancier,  _ adultier _ adults around them- Josh put on his snobbiest voice and pretended to criticize his food, using many long words he’d definitely made up on the spot- but still, it was weird that they were being quiet about it. It was like they were afraid the waiter was going to come over and yell at them if he caught them having fun. It was making Paul nervous, but then again, that may have just been the knowledge (or educated guess, at least) of what was going to happen tonight.

They didn't make their move until they were all pretty much finished eating, and the suspense made the rest of the date nearly painful, especially with all three of them trying so hard to act casual. Paul was almost as nervous as the other two- enough so that he didn't say anything, this time, about how often they kept looking at each other meaningfully. Finally, though, Nick cleared his throat and reached down for something… just as Josh made the same movement. They collided and drew back to stare at each other, both looking vaguely betrayed. An intense, hushed conversation followed.

“I thought we agreed that I get to do it because I’m older!”

“Uh, no,  _ I _ thought we agreed  _ I _ had dibs because I met him first!”

“Yeah, but I’m prettier, so it makes a better-  _ hey!” _

Nick, having apparently realized neither of them was going to get anywhere like that, changed up his tactics and physically wrested the small box they were both holding onto away from Josh. Suddenly, he was kneeling next to their table.

“Paul, will you…” He began to hold the box up so Paul could, you know, actually see it- although there was no way he wouldn’t have known what was happening by now either way- only for Josh to interrupt him and make another grab for it.

“You’re not even doing it right, you’re supposed to be on  _ one _ knee!”

“Oh, come on, does it really  _ matter?” _

“Of course it matters, dumbass!”

Paul tried not to laugh, which was a doomed effort from the start, given how objectively ridiculous the whole situation was. There was another brief scuffle for the box. This time, however, as Nick tried to reach where Josh was holding it above his head, they both managed to drop it. It came open on impact. The engagement ring inside fell out and rolled across the floor, coming to a stop perfectly at Paul’s feet.

Everyone stared for a moment. Then, before his (wonderful, ridiculous) boyfriends could even try to make this any less of a disaster on their end, Paul reached into his pocket and pulled out  _ two _ ring boxes of his own. “You know, I’m not really sure what  _ that _ was supposed to be,” he teased, “but it did remind me of something…”

Before he could finish that thought, all three of them became aware of a figure looming over them.

“If you gentlemen are going to carry on like this, I must ask you to  _ leave. _ You’re disturbing the other diners.”

Well, shit.

They paid for the food they’d had and left the restaurant in a blur, equal parts embarrassed and thrilled. After the scene they had made, everyone nearby was looking at them, but they hardly minded- were more inclined to give a smug look back than shy away from it, actually. The people staring were either envying them or should be.

Escorted outside, they found themselves standing on the sidewalk. It was a very nice day, but there was no denying that the perfect moment was definitely lost. Still, Paul coughed and held up his two boxes again, along with the ring they had gotten for him- he’d been the only one who thought to pick it up, apparently.

“So, uh… you guys wanna get married?”

There was a beat of silence before they all burst out laughing. By the time they were calm enough to get the rings on properly, they were sitting on the pavement, feeling a bit lightheaded. Josh couldn’t seem to stop giggling.

“I’m just- I’m going to take that as a yes,” Paul managed. He brushed away tears from his eyes, and it was hard to tell how much of that was from laughing too hard and how much was from… y’know, getting engaged to both of his favorite people. Luckily for him, no one asked.

It was another minute before Nick pointed out that they should probably get off the sidewalk and go home before somebody got mad at them again, and a few more minutes after  _ that _ for them to actually get up. It took them approximately half an hour to walk home. Once they were there, however, no one had any idea how much time they spent cuddled together on the couch, talking and making wedding plans in a way that felt so different from every similar conversation they’d had before. There were far too many better, more  _ important _ things to focus on for any of them to care about something so trivial as the passage of time.


End file.
